National Coordination of Black Rural Quilombola Communities

The National Coordination for the Organization of Rural Black Quilombola Communities (CONAQ) is a national network created through the organization, resistance, and mobilization of Brazil’s quilombola communities. Its work focuses on defending their collective rights, particularly the protection and formal recognition of title to their territories, racial justice, and the human rights of quilombola communities.

Its establishment was formalized on May 12, 1996, in the quilombola territory of Rio das Rãs, in Bom Jesus da Lapa, Bahia. Its formation was the result of an organizational process that had developed over the preceding decades and gained momentum with the Zumbi dos Palmares March, held in Brasília in 1995.

Although the 1988 Constitution recognized the territorial rights of quilombola communities, this did not immediately guarantee their rights. In this context, CONAQ emerged to coordinate the various territorial struggles into a collective national agenda, strengthening the communities’ capacity to engage in dialogue with the government, report violations, develop public policies, and participate in national and international forums.

For CONAQ, territory means ancestry, memory, identity, culture, spirituality, food sovereignty, and the future of the quilombola communities. Therefore, the defense of territory is directly linked to the defense of human rights.

Currently, CONAQ coordinates communities, leaders, and organizations from different regions of Brazil. Its work includes education, health, climate and environmental justice, food sovereignty, culture, youth, women’s rights, and the protection of leaders. The National Women’s Collective strengthens the organization, leadership, political education, and participation of Quilombola women, and works to defend their territorial rights, combat racism and violence against women, and ensure the protection and self-care of women defenders.

Similarly, the Youth, Education, and Health collectives promote political participation and access to rights and public policies that address the diverse realities of the quilombola communities. The Joãozinho de Mangal Legal Collective strengthens legal aid for the people and advocacy efforts on behalf of the communities, while the Communication Collective raises awareness of their demands and combats racism and invisibility. For its part, the LGBTQIAPN+ Collective promotes the visibility, representation, and political participation of LGBTQIAPN+ Quilombola people, as well as public policies that recognize the diversity existing within these territories.

In 2026, CONAQ will celebrate its 30th anniversary, with a history rooted in centuries of resistance by Black and quilombola populations against slavery, racism, and the dispossession of their territories.